{shortcode-8e989e2bf660d184374e92a0d4cc15da7c363288}

Updated September 10, 2025, at 3:33 a.m.

Harvard students reported better mental health — including lower rates of anxiety and depression — than their peers nationwide, according to results from a University-wide survey released Tuesday.

The data, gathered in spring 2025 from degree-seeking students across all of Harvard’s schools, showed that student use of mental health services increased over the past academic year, with initial consultations at Counseling and Mental Health Services rising by 14 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Harvard’s survey was part of a nationwide network, called Healthy Minds, run by the University of Michigan that includes more than 100 other universities. The study, which yielded a response rate of 25 percent, was based on a sample of nearly 6,000 students across the University.

Harvard students reported experiencing flourishing at rates that were roughly 10 percentage points higher than among the national sample — symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidality at rates that were roughly 10 percentage points lower. A similar but slightly lower proportion of Harvard students screened positively for disordered eating, compared to the national sample. Harvard students also engaged in binge drinking at slightly higher levels.

In an email sent out to Harvard affiliates Tuesday afternoon, Associate Provost for Student Affairs Robin T. Glover and Associate Provost for Campus Health and Wellbeing Giang T. Nguyen wrote that “significant progress” has been made since the University released a capstone report on student mental health in July 2020.

The 2025 survey shows 22 percent of Harvard students reported signs of depression, and 23 percent reported experiencing anxiety. 7 percent of students reported having suicidal thoughts.

In a 2018 survey of Harvard College, 30 percent of undergraduates reported believing they had an anxiety disorder and 31 percent said they believed they might have depression. The report released on Thursday did not provide school-specific breakdowns.

{shortcode-59b6c1476758c58676bf65146271589275dba51d}

The survey conducted at Harvard also included custom questions designed to gauge whether students felt “impostor syndrome,” or a sense that their accomplishments are undeserved, even if they have evidence to the contrary. More than 60 percent of respondents said they felt their peers were more intelligent than themselves. Around half indicated they were afraid that other students would discover how much knowledge or ability they lacked.

The portion of Harvard students feeling imposter syndrome was also high in 2020, when 61 percent of undergraduates and between 49.4 percent and 78.9 percent of graduate students reported feeling like an imposter.

But more than 80 percent of students surveyed in the spring said they felt a positive sense of belonging on campus. More than half of students felt connected to campus life, but 45 percent said they felt isolated.

The final portion of the survey examined whether Harvard students were aware of University-provided mental health resources. Harvard students reported more knowledge of the services available to them compared to the national average, with 89 percent saying they were aware of the University’s resources.

But lack of time was a significant barrier for students who indicated they accessed fewer mental health services than they needed, despite receiving some care. Among Harvard students who said they received less care than needed, 38 percent cited lack of time, compared to 33 percent nationally.

Financial reasons were the next most common barrier among this group, with 33 percent of Harvard students — compared to 27 percent nationally — citing high expenses or a lack of insurance coverage.

Harvard University Health Services Senior Director of Student Mental Health Barbara Lewis told the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication, that she was surprised to learn students reported financial barriers to care.

“Many of the services and support we offer to students are actually free of charge, so we feel we have some education to do around that piece,” she said.

Out of Harvard’s mental health resources, Harvard students utilize CAMHS the most, while TimelyCare — a third-party platform that provides mental health care counseling — was used the least. Roughly a quarter of students reported knowing about TimelyCare indicated that they used its services.

The University launched the TimelyCare platform in 2022 in partnership with TimelyMD, an online health and wellbeing platform. The platform allows Harvard students to access 12 free virtual therapy sessions with a psychiatrist every year.

The University has also added additional mental health resources in recent years, including CAMHS Cares, a 24/7 mental health care hotline launched 2021.

CAMHS has also recently developed a clinical access team, which consists of licensed clinicians who refer students to appropriate mental health resources.

While the weekslong wait time to get a therapy appointment was previously a concern, Lewis told the Gazette that the team has “dramatically shortened wait times to access services.”

Glover and Nguyen wrote in their email to Harvard affiliates that the University will work on addressing the mental health concerns survey participants reported the most, including isolation, imposter syndrome, and binge drinking

“We need to continue our outreach to remind students of the services that are offered and to emphasize that they can get the care that they need in a timely manner,” Glover told the Gazette. “We may need to do some work about emphasizing specific services and consider different forms of outreach.”

Correction: September 9, 2025

Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Harvard students reported a rate of flourishing on the Healthy Minds survey that was about 10 percentage points lower than among the national sample. In fact, the rate among Harvard students was roughly 10 percentage points higher.

—Staff writer Annabel M. Yu can be reached at annabel.yu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @annabelmyu.